[Viva] HIV/AIDS Legal Network meeting

Thu Sep 1 14:21:18 PDT 2011

Peggy,
Your idea is brilliant, and I would love to assist in anyway I can, I think
having a high profile ally, makes a huge difference. You can email me at any
time.
Kecia

On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 9:02 AM, Peggy Frank <pegfrank at telus.net> wrote:

> i had a crazy idea and thought i would run it by you. I know that the man
> in motion is doing a 25th anniversary run across the country and i wonder if
> someone could approach Rick Hansen or the Foundation about having a sidearm
> about running beyond the stigma for HIV, mental illness, and a host of other
> things by having people join him across the country.  I was thinking how
> powerful it would be to have people who were positive ride or run or wheel
> alongside Rick and let the world know that it is OK to be HIV+ and also that
> like spinal cord injury it is a tough disability to live with, but the
> strong among us get stronger from it.  Maybe it's entirely too insane...
>
> love you all for the strengths that you have and the sharing that you do.
>
> Denise I am not in Vancouver until later in September and am sorry that I
> cannot meet you there.  I would love to sometime soon. And actually am
> overdue to see both Margarite and Kath too.
>
> Love  -peg
> Peggy Frank
> positively AFRICA
> 2092 Byron Street, Victoria,  BC
> Canada V8R 1L9
> info at positivelyafrica.org
> www.positivelyafrica.org
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2011-06-11, at 12:58 PM, Kath Webster wrote:
>
> Denise,****
> Thanks so much for this very comprehensive report on the Legal network
> meeting.  You could make this into a Living Positive article!  Many very
> critical issues.  You are passionate and articulate so an ideal person to be
> involved with the network.  Just curious, are you on their board or in what
> way are you involved?****
> ** **
> Thanks for the encouragement around Twitter too.  I had thought  that if
> you don’t have an iphone or smart phone (meaning the internet at your finger
> tips), then there’s no point in getting into Twitter.  Do you think it’s
> still useful for those of us who just use our computers to go online?****
> Kath****
> ** **
> ** **
> *From:* viva-bounces at lists.resist.ca [mailto:viva-bounces at lists.resist.ca]
>  *On Behalf Of *Denise Becker
> *Sent:* June-11-11 12:02 PM
> *To:* viva
> *Subject:* [Viva] HIV/AIDS Legal Network meeting****
> ** **
> I thought some of you might like feedback on the meeting I attended between
> Wednesday and Friday.  I will try to lay it out in point form so you can
> read it a little easier:****
> ** **
> 1.  HIV and the Media****
> ** **
> There was a workshop of the media and how HIV is being covered these days.
>  The people speaking were very interesting and included a CBC reporter, a
> French reporter for Radio Canada, the Managing Editor for the Global
> Network, the tweeter for the Toronto Star and the tweeter for Pozitive Lite,
> which is a blog for positive people and is run by Bob Leahy from Ontario.
>  Incidentally, I talked to Bob during the meeting and I have also tweeted to
> him on Twitter.  He has let me know he would like me to blog for them once a
> week so that they get a woman's perspective.****
> ** **
> The media panel talked about the apathy surrounding HIV by the general
> public these days and they also talked about how they worked with the Legal
> Network to get the story out on Bill C393 and Access to Medicines in Africa.
> ****
> ** **
> I told them I was consistently seeing "good news" stories about research
> and yet they seemed to be reporting "bad news" stories on individuals and
> this makes it difficult for people to get over the stigma and get out with
> their brave stories of fighting the disease.  I also told them that I felt
> there is a thin line between reporting the news and making the news, i.e.
> when are they actually reporting and when are they swaying public opinion?
> ****
> ** **
> They said they are very concerned when they report stories and see stupid
> comments after them and because of their journalistic viewpoint they cannot
> add their voice to comments when they know many of the comments are from
> ignorant people who demonize HIV and don't understand it.****
> ** **
> I had a good chat with the lady from CBC and the French reporter afterwards
> and they wanted to keep in touch.****
> ** **
> Bob, from Pozitive Lite and Ken Buchanan from Positive Living BC and I
> discussed "coming out" with your status and we all agreed it was a very
> difficult thing to do but none of us had regretted it and we felt we were
> now fighting the stigma with our contributions at conferences.****
> ** **
> I cannot emphasize enough how important Twitter is getting now and how many
> people who tweet think of Facebook as "old school".  The good thing is you
> can tweet with total anonymity since you can choose a false name (the term
> for this is a "handle") and no one knows when you are online.  If you want
> to get into HIV conversations and want to be anonymous, this could be the
> way to go, just don't be put off with your first experience of Twitter and
> try to stay with it.  I will be sending you all an email soon on how to get
> on to Twitter, use it, make friends with people who are HIV+ and get the
> latest research.****
> ** **
> 2.  Criminalization of HIV****
> ** **
> There is an important case going on right now.  It is a case which has a
> press embargo on it and so there is very little that can be said in the
> media that we can hear about.  All I know is that it is a case in which the
> viral load of the person is being taken into account when they did not
> inform their sex partner that they were HIV+.  The court is examining
> whether the argument can be used anymore that a person has malicious intent
> when not revealing their HIV status if they are undetectable and whether
> they are likely to pass on the virus.  There was a win for those who argued
> that there was no malicious intent because there was no infection and that
> it the undetectable viral load meant the person was not acting in a way that
> meant to kill someone.  The Crown has decided to appeal the ruling to the
> Supreme Court and I believe the case will be heard on Monday.  It is pretty
> exciting to find out what will happen and the lawyer was there who was
> arguing the case and discussed his strategy so far.****
> ** **
> 3.  Insite****
> ** **
> There were lawyers at the workshop who are arguing the Insite case, where
> the downtown supervised injection site has come under attack from the
> Federal Government.  In addition, Vandu were at the meeting and discussing
> what action they have taken and how the site is working and saving lives.
>  The argument here is that the site is saving lives and doing no harm.  This
> may take a while to finally get a decision but David Eby, a civil rights
> lawyer was talking about how ridiculous it was that Insite is being attacked
> when it will not put an end to shooting up and it is actually a point of
> education and assistance for many wanting to get away from drug use.****
> ** **
> 4.  Sex Trade Workers****
> ** **
> There was a lady from Montreal talking about sex trade work and in
> particular the Pickton Trial.  This has made it a good time to start
> advocating for women who have to put themselves at risk by hiding out in
> order to do their work and the risk this puts them in.  She talked about how
> she got involved with sex work and that she was not pushed into it but
> rather started it at 26 years of age in order to put herself through
> university.  She made a joke about the University actually profiting off the
> avails of street work! hah!  She told of the precautions she takes when she
> meet a guy and he comes to her apartment and she sounded like an extremely
> clever lady who is protecting herself very well.  I was very impressed with
> what a wonderful advocate this lady was for her trade and she said that not
> all women want to get off the street because of the declaration of income
> and freedom it gives them but others do and they should be accommodated and
> not made into criminals!****
> ** **
> That is all I can think of for now and if you want to ask me any questions
> or know more, then I would love to hear from you.****
> ** **
> All the best,****
> Denise****
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-- 
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